But when asked the hard questions about cutting, they indicated a strong preference against cutting Medicaid and education — the two largest areas of the state budget — and instead opted for higher taxes on New Yorkers earning more than $1 million a year.

“By a better than three-to-one margin, voters say they would vote against cutting education by $1 billion to help close the state’s $9 billion budget deficit. By a slightly smaller, but still overwhelming margin, they would also vote against cutting Medicaid and health care by $1 billion to help balance the budget. Voters of every party and region oppose these cuts to help close the budget deficit,” said Steve Greenberg, a spokesman for the Siena Poll. “On the other hand, voters do strongly support higher income tax rates for millionaires to help close the budget deficit. Even a majority of Republicans and conservative voters say they would vote for a millionaire’s tax.”

The poll also found Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo has a 66 percent approval rating on the eve of his inauguration, and 43 percent of New Yorkers are prepared now to elect President Barack Obama (compared to 47 percent who want “someone else” and 10 percent who didn’t respond to the question.) The end of the election has salved Cuomo in the eyes of many Republicans, Greenberg explains: “He has a better than two-to-one favorability rating in every region of the state, and even Republicans who viewed Cuomo unfavorably last month by a 39-51 percent margin, have an ever-so-slightly favorable view of him.”

UPDATE: Cuomo issued this statement.

“This morning’s Siena Poll affirms what we drove as an agenda for the state during the campaign and since the election. The people of the state by overwhelming margins want the legislature to pass a property tax cap for tax relief, get our fiscal house in order so we can attract new businesses and create jobs across the state, and impose more transparency by disclosing their outside incomes. We worked to educate voters over the past year on these key issues and will continue to communicate with the people of the State of New York. Albany will change when the people demand change because the best force for reform is an engaged citizenry.”

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